Amanda asked Ben Waggoner:

This has nothing to do with the story or anything but at the end of the Introduction for The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok, there is a passage in some Norse/Scandinavian language. What language is it and what does it say?

Ben Waggoner Hey, a question! The passage reads: "Hvárt sem satt er eða eigi, þá hafi sa gaman af, er þat má at verða, en hinir leiti annars þess gamans, er þeim þykkir betra." It's Old Norse (although an educated Icelander today would be able to read it without much trouble), and I borrowed it from the prologue to a different saga, the _Saga of Hrolf Gautreksson_ (which I went on to translate and publish in _Six Sagas of Adventure_; it's a fun read). It means "Whether it [the saga] is true or not, may he enjoy it who can, and may the rest find some other amusement that they like better." Several of the old sagas, especially the more "fantasy" sagas, include playful disclaimers like that.

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